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The image on the right provides the performance graphs for all Sam Knows whitebox parameters being collected for more than 50 Whiteboxes distributed throughout Speldhurst Parish between January 1st and October 13th 2012. These results reflect the gradual adoption of ADSL2+ which is available from the Langton Green telephone exchange. This is the "up to" 20 Mbps service.

Now that Openreach have enabled the Langton Green exchange, you should contact your ISP and ask if they can upgrade you. It may require a new modem, and it may not be free. If you live a long way from the exchange (more than 2 km of cable) you're unlikely to see any improvement at all as the graph below demonstrates.

It is also notable that this technology has been around since 2003 and available in urban areas. Will it be another 10 years until we see urban speeds in the rural areas of our parishes? It won't happen at all unless we build our own fibre network, as the government can't afford to fund the build, nor can a commercial operator like Openreach.

[Click on me to view a BIG version! ]

Whitebox speeds for July 2012
The downstream and upstream speeds for July 2012 are presented below - these are BEFORE anybody had ADS2+ via the NDLAN telephone exchange.

Whitebox speeds for August 2012
For comparison, the same statistics for August 2012 are in these graphs, where a few people are known to have 15-19 Mbps available via the ADSL2+ upgrade.

Whitebox speeds for September 2012And here we see the real effect of ADSL2+ hitting the average speeds. The benefit of a few are skewing the figures. Those of us further away (as the cable crawls) from the exchange will not see substantial speed improvements from this technology upgrade I'm afraid. Let's enjoy the little bit we've got from Openreach for now!

Statistical effect of ADSL2+ in Langton Green

As more and more people start to upgrade, we "should" see a substantial increase in the average speeds across all the whiteboxes. If we don't see this increase, then either people aren't upgrading or they aren't getting substantial speed benefits from the upgrade. The GoogleMap of whitebox users will help us identify those who are getting more than 8Mbps as ADSL2+ beneficiaries, when we finish it.

As you will see, the majority of our whitebox users are in Langton, which should be reflected quickly in the increased speeds. There are 16 whitebox users who are getting more than 8 Mbps which means they have upgraded.

The more rural Whiteboxes or those with degraded copper cable are unlikely to see any benefit, and they'll keep the average figure down. Only time will tell!

The Whitebox initiative, funded by Speldhurst Parish Council, operated by volunteers, is providing the above irrefutable evidence of actual performance. There are currently 56 active units, all sending carefully selected performance data back to Sam Knows on a 24x7 basis. Any changes made by BT or significant ISPs using BTs infrastructure will be represented quickly within these figures, providing participating residents with Ofcom approved standardised facts to help their ISP resolve quality of service issues.

Any proposed improvements using BDUK funding via Tunbridge Wells Borough Council or Kent County Council will be subject to the same monitoring regime across Speldhurst parish, making the value for money proposition straight forward to establish.

Many thanks to all involved with the Whiteboxes in Speldhurst - this is a ground breaking effort!